Is the love of opera part of the gardening “lifestyle”?
I don’t know. It’s part of my style though, and, therefore, part of the “TPG Style” we are creating here, and it keeps growing, adding new and exciting layers to the complexity of this community.
Like opera.
Today, I don’t want exactly to talk about opera, but to tell you about a wonderful feature called “Met HD,” through which people all over the world can actually be live at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City and just enjoy the spectacular productions with the most wonderful singers alive, in the best seats... for a mere $25.
I just came back from the live performance of Macbeth, Verdi’s opera based on Shakespeare’s play, which, to my surprise, revealed itself, in addition to the musical beauty, stunning visuals, and carefully stained and soiled clothes for a nation in turmoil, to be the perfect libretto for Halloween: There is blood everywhere in this new Met production directed by Louisa Proske, a young German-American artist I have never heard of. Until today.
You can safely say that, with her immense talent, Proske brought true blood to the stage, and man, it’s a lot of blood! Including the final scene, in which Kelsey sings with his mouth full of blood, dripping blood down to his bloody chest.
In the opening scene we are already thrown into the intriguing mix of beauty and violence only Shakespeare could produce — helped throughout the centuries by a whole list of creators he seems to inspire ad infinitum — when Kelsey’s Macbeth enters the stage with bloody hands, after killing King Duncan, and leaves a bloody mark on Davidsen’s Lady Macbeth’s immaculate white dress upon embracing her.
I came to the theater attracted by Lise Davidsen, a Norwegian, Wagnerian force of nature singing Verdi for the first time, and ended up with a lot of “firsts.” Among them, in addition to Proske, Macbeth himself, that is, Quinn Kelsey, and two opera stars — Ryan Speedo Green as Banquo and Freddie De Tommaso as Macduff — singing in supporting roles for the first time without losing one scintilla of their original brilliance — with just one aria each.
A special mention goes to the choir of witches — not happy with only three, Verdi multiplied them by… I’m not really sure. I guess it depends on the sophistication of the production, which, of course, hits its peak at the Metropolitan Opera, so we fully enjoyed the privilege of watching a whole army of witches with black lipstick creepily scrubbed around their mouths.
It was one of those surprising, unforgettable experiences, without the need of going to the airport, and sitting in good company — opera lovers like me — in comfortable recliners.
This Met HD season includes 10 productions, ending in June 2027 with Wagner’s Parsifal, one of my favorite operas and one of the longest in history, ranging between 4 hours and 45 minutes and about 5 hours and 40 minutes, depending on the version and the conductor.
I’ll start practicing my musical muscles immediately in preparation for that marathon, but for now, my next appointment for sure will be Saint-Saëns’s Samson and Dalila, on December 5, with Quinn Kelsey as Samson and the exotic Aigul Akhmetshina — a Russian mezzo-soprano I’ve been pursuing for a while, but never had the opportunity to see — as Dalila, a leap of faith you will not want to miss.